


No Need For Training Wheels

by Ononymous



Series: Christmas 2020 Stories and Requests [6]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:53:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28434942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ononymous/pseuds/Ononymous
Summary: "Even if you bought me, say, a bike, where would I put it, and how would I even ride it. It would be a complete waste of everyone's time. A red bike with a golden basket. It'd be completely useless. You hear me? Useless!"Someone was going to take the hint, eventually.
Relationships: Asriel Dreemurr & Frisk, Flowey & Frisk (Undertale), Flowey & Papyrus (Undertale)
Series: Christmas 2020 Stories and Requests [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2074179
Comments: 8
Kudos: 35





	No Need For Training Wheels

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sophtopus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sophtopus/gifts), [CoramDeo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoramDeo/gifts).



Despite his former self's feelings that he should stay away from other monsters, Flowey had been changed by the events that led to the barrier breaking. The embers of his best self continued to flicker no matter how much he stared at walls to watch the nonexistant paint dry. But at the same time he still did everything in his power to avoid conversation with Asgore and Toriel. It wasn't too long before he became well known to a few around town that he could really trust. Even Frisk earned this, though in a roundabout fashion. If Frisk wanted to talk to him, they were to slightly adjust three different piles of stones near their house, then Flowey would push around the other flowers outside in an elaborate code to give Frisk coordinates and a fixed time to meet, in a manner that nobody else could decode without Frisk's help.

So today when Frisk wanted to talk, they just got Papyrus to take them to him.

"...I knew I should have made you mess with rocks too," he grumbled, ignoring his visitors in favour of the dark cavern he was rooted at the entrance to.

"BUT I SAID PRETTY PLEASE. WITH SUGAR ON TOP!"

"And here I thought you liked puzzles," continued Flowey, "yet you've become a cheat code to get the answer without putting in the work. I'd never have imagined the Great Papyrus would stoop so low."

Frisk stepped forward. "Flowey, that's not fair, I'm the one who persuaded him-"

Papyrus put a gloved hand on their shoulder. "WORRY NOT, FRISK. IT'S TRUE THAT A COMPLEX PUZZLE THAT TRULY BYZANTIFYS THE MIND IS IMMENSELY SATISFYING, BUT WASTING TIME WITH IT WHEN A FRIEND NEEDS A KINDNESS INFLICTED ON THEM IS NO GOOD. BETTER TO CUT TO THE CHASE, NO?"

Flowey's head looked up at the cavern ceiling. "And what is this great kindness that was so dang urgent, huh? Finally did the impossible and found my soul?"

"...no," said Frisk, as Papyrus looked curious, "but maybe the next best thing!"

"Got Toriel to talk to Asgore?"

Frisk rubbed their arm. "Well... look, just turn around and you'll see, okay?"

"Ugh, _fine_." Flowey turned around at last. "Though what you two idiots think could possibly be so great, I haven't a single-"

His tirade stopped dead in its tracks as he saw what stood between his visitors. The red confused him briefly as it was the same shade as Papyrus' cape, and made him think the skeleton had changed clothes for once. Then the unexpected shapes made him think for a brief moment of Alphys' lab. But he finally put the shape and colours in context. It was an amalgamate with Papyrus, it was...

"For you," said Frisk.

Flowey finally left the edge of the cavern and approached Papyrus and Frisk. Or rather, he approached the bright red bicycle with golden basket they were holding onto. His face gave nothing away except his eyes darting from one part to another. The ten gears, the dynamo powered torch for darker rides, the MTT™ Trading Card of a bored looking cat in the spokes of the rear wheel, the silver bell on the right handlebar. A vine rose up and began to play with it.

_Ring ring!_

"Hee hee hee..."

"YOU'D BE SURPRISED HOW HARD IT WAS TO GET IN THESE COLOURS. ONE SELLER INSISTED THE BASKET HAD TO BE LAZY AUTUMN-LEAF STRAWBERRY BLOND WITH A SEPIA TWIST..."

_Ring ring ring ring ring ring!_

" _Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee!_ "

"Flowey?!"

The ringing stopped. Flowey's face, now with a huge grin, looked up at them. Both Frisk and Papyrus could see him struggle to reassert determined disinterest.

"...this is pretty cool, I guess," he finally said. "What made you think I wanted it?"

"IT WAS SOMETHING ABOUT HOW YOU SPECIFICALLY SAID YOU DIDN'T WANT IT. REPEATEDLY. EITHER THAT WAS SARCASM, OR YOU HAVE SOME KIND OF TRAUMA ASSOCIATED WITH RED BIKES, AND I BELIEVE IT'S BETTER TO FACE YOUR FEARS!"

"Oh I'm traumatised like you wouldn't believe," said Flowey, "but not by a bike. Ain't nothing about this situation is gonna be discussed with a therapist. I've wanted- well, been kinda interested in one since I realised how big the surface is."

"You didn't want one Underground?" asked Frisk.

Flowey rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, choose your obstacle course: Icy Forest, Eternally Wet Rocky Path Full of Lakes, or Lava. How could I ever get any speed down there? Now I can take this to the top of a hill and just nyooooooom...!" He shook the earnest excitement off his face. "Well I'm gonna try it now..."

"JUST A MOMENT."

"Huh?"

Papyrus reached inside the basket and took out a small green helmet, and put it on Flowey's head, then adjusted the straps. "SAFETY FIRST!"

"Okay, _Mom_. Hey, this fits pretty well. How'd ya know what measurements to get?"

"WELL I'VE SEEN YOU BEFORE, SO I KNOW YOUR MEASUREMENTS."

Flowey blinked. "...of course. You always do that Sherlock stuff at the weirdest moments. Right..."

Three more vines joined the one still around the right handlebar, lifting Flowey right off the ground. They wrapped round the left handlebar and both pedals, leaving Flowey "planted" on the central frame in front of the seat, head pointed proudly ahead.

"When I say three, let go... three!"

They let go. Flowey looked immensely strained, and the bike hobbled forward maybe two feet. Then it started to fall sideways, before Papyrus grabbed the seat to stabilise it.

"Nng! C'mon... What the heck? Is this a sick joke? I'm in first gear, why can't I pedal? I've gripped hard enough to crush-" Frisk eyed him. "Well, you know. What's going on?!"

"Flowey," said Frisk, "have you ever pushed something as you are now?"

"Huh? No, why would I?"

"MAYBE..." Papyrus tried hard to be delicate. "YOU AREN'T STRONG ENOUGH TO PEDAL THE BIKE?"

"But that one time, I lifted you all- Ohhh..." Papyrus once again wondered what he was referring to. "Hey Frisk, can I borrow your soul a minute?"

"No," they said flatly.

"Aww, then I can't... Hey, give me a push, will ya?"

Human and Skeleton looked dubious, but nodded. Finding a long flat patch of grass, they got up to a leisurely walking pace with the bike, then let go.

"YES!" Flowey cackled with delight. "Now we're getting somewhere!" He rang his bell again. "Hee hee hee! Hee hee... hee... hee... _hnnng_..."

His vines' pedalling, initially quite swift, slowed along with the bike. His face was out of sight, but they could hear him grunting. Then it toppled over.

"Argh!" he screamed. "My tibula!"

The two of them ran to catch up, seeing him still tangled in the bike. "Flowey, what's wrong?"

"My tibula!" he cried again, face contorted in pain. "Something's wrong with my tibula!"

"OH NO, THAT'S..." Papyrus scratched his jaw. "NOW HOLD ON ONE MOMENT, I'M NOT UP TO DATE ON FLOWER ANATOMY, BUT IN OTHER CREATURES THERE IS NO SUCH BONE AS A TIBULA."

The agonised face vanished, replaced with one of glee. "Ha, you idiots fell for it!" He disentangled himself from the bike with no problem, then proceeded to slap it with a vine, the glee melting away. "Piece of junk! I said that it would be a waste of time, didn't I? But you refused. You always try to help me even when I don't deserve... Ugh!"

The helmet fell off his head as the petals closed around his face, facing the ground in a sulk. Papyrus rocked back and forth on his feet, clearly at a loss for how to move forward from this obstacle. Frisk dared approaching Flowey, eyes full of determination.

"Flowey", they said, "do you want me to ride the bike? And you in the basket?"

The petals looked skyward. Then they opened up to reveal incredulity. "Not in town, I don't want them to see me."

"A CAPITAL SUGGESTION!"

Papyrus re-fastened Flowey's helmet, while Frisk took out a blue one from their phone and put it on, followed by kneepads and elbowpads.

"You knew it would come to this, didn't you?" accused Flowey.

"No, Mom just wants me to carry these around, just in case."

"...yeah, she'd do that."

Soon Frisk sat on the bike, Flowey securely wrapped around the weaves in his golden basket, and Papyrus stood behind, ready for launch.

"NOW NO CYCLING NEAR MOUNTAINS OR LAKES," he warned, "I HEAR BICYCLES DON'T DO TOO WELL THERE. AAAAAAND... YOU'RE OFF!"

They were indeed off. Frisk was much more balanced in their strength, giving them the ability to maintain speed even on this slightly uneven grass. As they sped up, they saw Flowey's face twitch in fear, but then as they reached a downward sloping path, his shrill laughter started up again.

" _Hee hee hee! Nyooooom!_ " He looked back at Frisk. "We gotta do this more often!"

"Can we skip the complicated code step and let Papyrus tell me where you are?"

He frowned at being asked to compromise. "You drive a tough bargain."

* * *

Maybe a year had passed, and in the resulting time Frisk had managed even better presents than a red bike with a golden basket.

"Hey Asriel," they said.

The ex-flower looked up from his book. "What's up, Frisk?"

"It's stopped raining. Wanna ride our bikes up to the big hill?"

"Yeah!"

As Frisk put on their helmet and pads, Asriel put on his own, including a larger green helmet with holes cut for future horns. Then he ran out of the room while Frisk texted Toriel about what they were doing. As they went down the stairs and through the kitchen, they heard Asriel struggle with something.

"C'mon, gotta get out before they... oh." Frisk watched Asriel, sitting in the basket of his bike, clearly struggling to get out. "Sorry. Old habit."

Frisk tried super hard not to laugh. They failed when Asriel's bike tipped forward.

**Author's Note:**

> Original suggestion: Flowey's red bike?/Flowey's red bike viewed from both a grumpy pre-goat and reincarnated fuzzy goat setting would be fun, IMHO.


End file.
